Media with questions about these Marines can
call the Marine Forces Reserve Public Affairs Office at (504) 678-4178.
Wednesday, August 17, 2005Bell family says farewell at Arlington cemetery Marine's burial is in section where others
who died in Iraq lieBy Malia RulonCourtesy of the Enquirer

MEMORIALS CONTINUE

All soldiers killed in the line of duty are
eligible to be buried or have their cremated remains interred at Arlington
National Cemetery.

When their family elects that option, the government
pays all burial costs, including the service and appropriate military honors,
gravesite preparation, headstone, grave liner, ongoing maintenance and,
in the case of active duty deaths, the preparation of the remains, casket
or urn, and storage and shipping of the remains to Washington.

However, not every family chooses to have their
loved ones buried at Arlington.

"Some families prefer to have them close by"
in hometown cemeteries or a family plot, said Arlington spokeswoman Lori
Calvillo.

Lance Corporal Timothy Michael Bell was the
165th soldier killed in Iraq to be buried there, among the nearly 1,850
who have been died since the war started. Of the 17 Ohioans killed in Iraq,
Bell was the third Greater Cincinnati soldier to be buried there.

Lance Corporal Taylor Prazynski, of Fairfield,
was buried there in May; Army Specialist Chad Keith, of Batesville, Indiana,
was buried at Arlington two years ago.

Lance Corporal Christopher Jenkins Dyer, 19,
of Evendale, who is to be buried at Arlington next week, would be the fourth
Cincinnati-area soldier laid to rest there.

In addition to soldiers killed in wartime,
other people eligible for burial at Arlington include veterans who retire
from active duty. Spouses and minor dependents of those buried at Arlington
also are eligible.

More than 290,000 people are interred at the
cemetery, including veterans from all of the nation's wars, from the American
Revolution through the Iraq war.

An average of 27 funeral services are performed
at the cemetery each day from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., with the flags lowered
to half-staff a half-hour before the first funeral until a half hour after
the last funeral.
About 60 family members and friends gathered on an overcast
Tuesday morning amid thousands of white headstones at Arlington National
Cemetery to bury Lance Corporal Timothy Bell Jr., a man from a celebrated
baseball family who wanted nothing more than to be a Marine.

Bell, 22, of West Chester Township, Ohio, was
one of five Greater Cincinnati Marine reservists killed in Iraq August
3, 2005, in a roadside attack. He is the 165th soldier killed in Iraq to
be buried at Arlington and the third from the Cincinnati area.

Bell comes from a family that includes his
uncle, Kansas City Royals manager Buddy Bell; his cousin David, Buddy Bell's
son, who plays for the Philadelphia Phillies; and his grandfather, Gus
Bell, a Reds outfielder from 1953 to 1961.

But Bell, whose bedroom as a teenager was filled
with Marine posters and memorabilia, had wanted to be a Marine since he
was 6 years old.

In Iraq, he was a sniper who often was the
first man to rush into buildings. On Tuesday, he was laid to rest among
his heroes in the nation's premier military cemetery.

As Bell's family watched with their hands covering
their hearts, six uniformed Marines carried Bell's flag-draped steel casket
from a silver hearse to the gravesite in Section 60, among the stone markers
of other soldiers killed in Iraq.

Bell was saluted by a seven-man firing party
shooting three rifle volleys into the air. A lone military bugler then
played Taps.

The Marines folded the flag, which was presented
to Bell's father, Timothy Bell Sr., as Bell's stepmother, Vivian, and mother,
Jacqueline Ball, and her husband, quietly wept.

John Prazynski, the father of Lance Corporal
Taylor Prazynski, a Fairfield Marine killed in Iraq who was buried at Arlington
National Cemetery in May, stood on the fringes of the group.

"I feel great pride for Timothy Bell, knowing
that he wanted to be a Marine so bad," Prazynski said. "My heart hurts
for his family."

Prazynski was at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina,
on Sunday to meet members of his son's unit as they returned from duty.

When he heard Bell was to be buried at Arlington,
he said he wanted to be there to honor Bell and make his first visit to
his son's headstone.

However, he did not speak with the Bell family.

"I can't tell that family I know how they feel,"
Prazynski said. "I don't even know how I feel. It hurts."

Bell's service at Arlington followed a public
visitation on Sunday at Lakota East High School in Liberty Township that
drew more than 1,000 mourners, and a memorial procession and service on
Sunday, which ended at the high school.
Ohio Marine is buried in ArlingtonBy BOB DARTCourtesy of the Cox News ServiceWednesday, August 17, 2005

They buried a son of the heartland — a Marine
with baseball in his blood — on a gray Tuesday morning in this solemn resting
place of heroes.

The exploits of Lance Cpl. Timothy Michael
Bell Jr.'s kinsmen are chronicled on sports pages and ESPN. His late grandfather,
Gus Bell, was a home run-hitting outfielder for the Cincinnati Reds from
1953 to 1961. His uncle Buddy Bell was an infielder for the Reds in the
mid-1980s and is now manager of the Kansas City Royals. His cousin David
Bell plays third base for the Philadelphia Phillies, and another cousin,
Mike Bell, also played professional baseball.

But Tim Bell always wanted to be a Marine.

The network news and newspaper front pages
across the country carried the dispatch from Iraq when he and 13 comrades
from the Ohio-based 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines were killed in a roadside
bombing August 3, 2005.. The attack on a U.S. assault vehicle was one of
the deadliest in the war.

"He would not have wanted to die any other
way," said Greg McDaniel, the pastor of Impact Baptist Church in Bridgetown,
Ohio. McDaniel officiated Sunday at a memorial service at Lakota East High
School in Liberty Township, Ohio, where Tim Bell had decided to join the
Marine Corps.

"Tim Bell believed in freedom," said the pastor,
according to the Associated Press. "He believed there were some things
worth fighting for and some things worth dying for."

On Tuesday morning, Bell, 22, was buried under
threatening skies in Section 60, Grave 8208. Scores of others who have
died in Iraq also lie beneath stark stone markers on the grassy hillside.
So far, 165 U.S. military dead from Iraq have been buried in Arlington,
nearly a tenth of those who have been killed there.

Although all are eligible for burial here,
"some families prefer to have them close by" in hometown cemeteries, explained
Lori Calvillo, a spokeswoman for Arlington.

Others feel the earthly remains of their fallen
sons and daughters should eternally stay here with their comrades from
America's other wars.

"The significance of Arlington National Cemetery
speaks for itself.," said John Prazynski of Fairfield, Ohio, whose 20-year-old
son, Lance Corporal Taylor Prazynski, is buried not far from the fresh
grave of Tim Bell.

"My son loved being in the Marines. He knew
what he was signed up for," said Prazynski.

"I feel great pride for Timothy Bell, knowing
that he wanted to be a Marine so bad," Prazynski said. "My heart hurts
for his family because I know how my family's hearts hurt."

Prazynski was at Camp Lejeune, N.C., on Sunday
to meet members of his son's unit as they returned from combat duty. When
he read that Bell was to be buried at Arlington on Tuesday, he decided
to attend and also make his first visit to the grave of his son, who was
buried here in May.

He did not speak to the Bell family, however.

"I can't tell that family I know how they feel.
I don't even know how I feel," he said. "It hurts."

"A parent doesn't expect to bury his son,"
he said.

He expressed sympathy for Cindy Sheehan, who
is holding a peace vigil outside President Bush's ranch near Crawford,
Texas. Her son, Casey, was killed in Iraq.

"God bless her. You know what? My son fought
for her freedom, so she could camp out down there," he said.

But he does not support her cause.

"Do I think we should quit and pull out? Absolutely
not. I support the war on terror," he said. "Is every one of those lives
(that are lost) significant? Absolutely. We can't give up. We can't just
say there are too many guys dying, so let's go home."

He was asked if the recent deaths of the Ohio
reservists bought back his own pain.

"It didn't bring it back to me because it never
went away," he said.

Another family from the heartland faces that
question now. When Tim Bell left for Iraq, he left his beloved Marine Corps
ring with his father. Now his mother has the American flag that draped
his coffin.

Their son was saluted by the sound of seven
rifles firing three times. A bugler played the haunting notes of "Taps."

Then it was over. A gentle rain fell. The mourners
moved on.
18 August 2005

Royals manager Buddy Bell returned to the dugout
Wednesday with a renewed sense of perspective after missing the last two
games to attend his nephew’s funeral Tuesday at Arlington National Cemetery
in Virginia.

Even after the 11-5 loss to the Mariners, he
said, “Believe me, I’m glad to be back.”

Yet Bell said he was profoundly moved by his
first trip to Arlington.

“I’m ashamed to say I’ve never been there before,”
he said. “The serenity of it is just awesome. To see all of those gravesites.
… Oh, man, it’s gut-wrenching.”

Lance Corporal Timothy Bell Jr. was among the
Marines killed earlier this month by a car bomb in Iraq.

Buddy Bell had hoped to return in time for
Tuesday’s game, but delays in traveling prevented him from reaching the
team hotel until about 7:30 p.m.

Bench coach Bob Schaefer ran the club in Bell’s
absence.
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - An emotionally spent Buddy Bell
returned to his duties as manager of the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday
after attending burial services at Arlington National Cemetery for his
Marine Corps nephew.

Lance Cpl. Tim Bell Jr. was killed in Iraq
by a roadside bomb this month. The Royals manager had never been to Arlington
before.

"It was unbelievable," Bell said. "When you
drive in there, there are just grave after grave after grave. After being
there, I'm kind of ashamed that I was never there before to pay tribute
to all the people who have lost their lives."

Bell got back to Seattle from Tuesday's services
at Arlington about 30 minutes after his team's game with the Seattle Mariners
started, but he didn't go to Safeco Field.

Kansas
City Royals manager, Buddy Bell, arrives for the funeral service of his
nephew, Lance Corporal Timothy
Bell, Jr. USMC, 22, of West Chester, Ohio, at Arlington National Cemetery,
Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2005. Bell
was one of the 14 Marines killed in a roadside bombing in western Iraq
on August 3, 1005.

Kansas
City Royals manager, Buddy Bell, arrives for the funeral service of his
nephew, Lance Cpl. Timothy Bell, Jr

Timothy
Bell, Sr., with his wife Vivian at his side, receives the U.S. flag at
the funeral services held forhis
son, Lance Corporal Timothy Bell, Jr.

Timothy
Bell, Sr. receives the U.S. flag at a funeral service for his son, Lance
Corporal Timothy Bell, Jr.
Posted: 19 August 2005 Updated: 17
October 2005